Plot

The episode begins with a group of kids attacking one another in an apocalyptic corridor at school. The scene pauses and Gumball appears. He begins to explain how this chaotic scene came about, and the scene changes to the Wattersons driving to school to attend a charity gala the previous evening. The kids are annoyed because not only are they returning to school after the end of the day, they will spend the charity gala locked in a room, watching low-quality TV shows while their parents party wildly. Nicole asserts that it will be a formal meeting. The scene changes to the aftermath of the gala— the room is dark and all the parents are lying unconscious while a song plays on loop.

Next, a group of kids are shown sitting in the art classroom watching a cartoon featuring poorly-drawn versions of Santa and some donkeys on a sled while a parody of the song "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" plays. The kids seem very bored, but Gumball acknowledges that it is at least a distraction. Unfortunately, the signal runs out, causing the television to turn itself off with the remote. With no distractions left, Gumball tries anything he can to open the door. Darwin, however, is more worried by the increasing temperature— all the kids are sweating and when Gumball walks he burns the floor beneath his feet. The cause of the rising heat is shown to be Nicole. She is asleep and inadvertently presses the thermostat up repeatedly with a noisemaker while snoring.

Gumball decides to eat some of the cookies left for them, but Tobias snatches it from him and eats 90% of it due to his parents funding half of the gala. Anais says that they should work together due to the fact that none of them know how long they could be stuck in this room for. Idaho and Clare dismiss her, Banana Joe and Sarah join the argument, and the seven squabble until Darwin stops them, telling them to focus on the heat problem. At this moment, Felix boils, cracks, and collapses. Bobert tells them they have three hours until the room sets on fire. Anais reminds them all about the food, and asks them what they should do about it, to which Gumball suggests they fight, and thus they do. They are interrupted by Anais who suggests that they instead elect a leader. The kids agree, and the scene changes to Anais and Tobias running against one another. Both are rejected angrily by their fellow students, who then proceed to argue. Darwin overheats to the point of hallucinating, and he is starting to ripple with heat, but still nobody cares about the heat problem.

Eventually, Gumball runs for leader, and the kids (except for Anais, Darwin and Tobias) root for him delightedly. Darwin wants to know what Gumball will do about the temperature problem, but Gumball claims there is no temperature problem, despite his head setting on fire and activating the sprinklers. Darwin tries to drink the pool of water, but the heat evaporates both it and the tears of disappointment he sheds when it disappears. Anais tries to convince the students to vote for her, but they ignore her and elect Gumball instead. Darwin, though disapproving of Gumball's misbehaviour, does not believe he can do much harm on his own.

The scene changes to the group of kids kicking down the door and attacking one another, and the scene from the beginning of the episode repeats. Gumball pauses the scene once again, and claims to the viewer that although he will be blamed, it was technically the other kids' fault since they elected him in the first place. It is then shown that he did not actually pause anything when Anais asks him what he is doing. He claims he is dictating his memoirs, but Anais tells him that now is not the time and that he should reunite his people. He tells them they should fight a common enemy, not one another, and that that person is Anais. They ignore this and put him in the stocks to pelt him with rotten fruit. They then have to escape school because the heat is causing it to set on fire and crumble. They get past their various obstacles using everyone's skills, and then reach the boiler, which appears to be overheating. Most of them run past it, but Darwin stops and suggests they do something about it. Gumball tells him that it is boiling because it is a boiler, and they run on, reaching the front doors and escaping the crumbling building in the nick of time.

Gumball tries to take credit for the situation, claiming that if he had not embezzled all the food, lied to everyone, fueled their differences until they hated each other, and then seized power, they wouldn't be as good friends as they are now. This angers the rest of the group, provoking Tobias into throwing Idaho at him. Anais tells them that since they could all work together then, there is hope for the future, and that they can leave the school a better place than it was when they found it. She is interrupted in this motivational speech by the school exploding due to the boiler, and Darwin scolds his siblings for not attending to the issue sooner.

Trivia

In the first scene, Gumball knows he is introducing the prologue to the viewers.

Anais interrupts Gumball's focus to the viewers with an inquiry on who he is talking to.

Continuity

A shorted and looped version of "Dad Rock" from "The Father" plays at the Children's Future Ball.

Gumball's middle name is mentioned for the first time since "The Club."

This is the second episode that Gumball mentions Chatsnap. The first episode was "The Vegging."

Cultural References

This episode is a satire/social commentary of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with the characters representing certain figures and attitudes during the election process, and the increasing temperature (which is ignored throughout the whole episode by everyone but Darwin) representing global warming.

32 Donkeys Playing on A Sled is a reference to poorly-animated "ElsaGate" kids videos on YouTube, particularly those that use the "5 Little Monkeys" song.

Banana Joe uses the term "Sheeple," a term generally used when talking about government conspiracies and the people of a nation or system being extremely gullible and manipulable.

The domain of the website Banana Joe visits (www.neckbeardfrogalternativetruth.ru) is the combination of all the things related to the alt-right and the alt-lite.

"Neckbeard" is a term used to refer to people (usually said to be overweight) with strong political views within right-wing forums. The term is associated with the growth of facial hair on one's neck.

The "frog" in the domain name is a reference to the famous internet meme and Boy's Club character Pepe the Frog, which became commonly used by the alt-right in 2016 as a mascot, and was labeled as a hate symbol by Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Alternative Truth is based on the phrase "Alternative Facts" by Kellyanne Conway, member of the Trump administration.

The .ru is the internet country code for a domain that was created for Russia. This is a reference to the claim that Russian hackers interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

Banana Joe mentions that this website helps to prevent him from listening to the "lamestream media"; as in the mainstream media, which includes news outlets like The New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC. A common belief within both the alt-lite and the alt-right is that traditional media outlets are politically biased and try to sway the public's opinion.

Sarah later mentioned that men never find true love and ends up being married to an anime body pillow. The anime body pillow is a direct allusion to Dakimakura, a large pillow that portrays a life-size image of an anime character.

Chatsnap, as mentioned by Gumball and Clare, is an obvious reference to the Snapchat app.

When Bobert says "...this room will be lit", Gumball responds with positivity, given his initial thought of the slang definition of "lit," meaning exciting and turned up.

The way how Gumball interrupts the episode to talk to the viewers could be a reference to how Kuzco (Llama) interrupts the movie to let the viewers know who the movie's about.

Darwin asks Gumball sarcastically if he does not want to see what happens to the 32nd donkey, even though at the time he says this they have already seen the 32nd donkey hurt his leg, and are now watching the 33rd donkey doing the same.

When the doctor tells Santa to stop the donkeys playing on the sled, the video shows Santa calling the doctor, rather than showing the doctor giving the advice.

Catastrophe

[The episode starts in front of the door of the Art Room as vocalized music plays. Several students, wildly battling each other, crash through the door. Tobias tackles Bobert, while Clare jumps onto Sarah. This leads to complete chaos, as flames and ruins are scattered all over the lockers]

Anais: Wait! Stop!

Bobert: [To Tobias] Give up. You have a two percent chance of defeating me. [Tobias hits Bobert with one of the locker doors] You have a four percent chalice of repeating me. [Tobias hits him again] You have a squirrel chocolate geography hairbrush. [Collapses in error. Tobias screams in triumph and runs off-screen]

Anais: [Appearing from background] Wait, we have to work together!

[As Sarah throws her head at Clare, everything freezes. Gumball walks into frame, addressing the viewer]

Gumball: They say lions throw their cubs off ravines and only raise the ones strong enough to climb back up. Well, firstly, that's not true, and it's also completely irrelevant to the story, but it makes for a cool opening. You might be wondering how things got to this point. It all started yesterday evening. I remember it as if it were yesterday... evening.

Before the Charity Ball

[Flashback to the previous day, with the Wattersons in their car. However, the Watterson children are completely annoyed by their arrival to the Charity Ball]

Gumball: Why do we have to go back to school?! We already wasted the whole day there!

Nicole: How can someone be so grumpy going to a charity ball, especially when it's about building a better future for children?

Gumball: Yeah, one chocolate fountain at a time.

Richard: How are we supposed to raise awareness for the children of tomorrow if we have low blood sugar today?

Gumball: Maybe your generation should have thought about our future before ruining the economy.

Darwin: And the environment.

Anais: And the education system!

Gumball: And ruining Chatsnap by following their kids— not related, but I think it should be said.

Richard: You think we had it easy? When I finished high school, all I had was three dollars in my pocket. So, what did I do? I bought a house, a car, and started a family. And the other two dollars went into my savings.

Gumball: You guys just don't realize, do you?

Richard: I realize that, in spite of how self-entitled my kids are, I still have space in my heart to think about their future.

Gumball: More like space in your stomach for free prawn cocktails and fruit punch.

Anais: And if you really care about us, why do we have to be stuck in a room with some bargain-bin VHS tape, while you animals party like it's nineteen-ninety-nine B.C.?

Nicole: For your information, it will be a very formal and civilized evening.

Children's Future Ball

[Cut to the aftermath of the Children's Future Ball: all the parents of the students seem to all be sleeping in an ironically uncivilized and informal manner; Richard is then shown to be laid out on a giant plate with an apple in his mouth. During the scene, loud rock music plays]

Voice: I'm gonna rock you till you do the rock 'n' roll— do the rock 'n' roll— do the rock 'n' roll— do the rock 'n' roll— do the rock 'n' roll—

[In the Art Room, a crudely animated music video for children plays on a television]

Darwin: Really? Don't you want to see what happens to the thirty-second gosh-darn donkey?!

Gumball: At least it's a distraction.

[The television turns itself off with a remote placed against his head, suggesting a method of "killing itself." In response, Gumball screams to an insane extent, and with overwhelming tears, knocks repeatedly on the door]

Gumball: Let us out! Let us out! [Cries in vain and lets out an abundance of tears]

Darwin: [Walks up to Gumball, holding a phone up to detect a signal] Still no signal. There must be some way to open that door.

Gumball: I've tried everything— turning the handle clockwise, turning it counterclockwise, not turning it, staring at it for a while... [Eyes become watery] ...telling you about it.

Darwin: [Sweating] I'm more worried about the heat. Is it me, or is the room getting globally much warmer?

[Nicole is shown to be unconsciously blowing her party horn, which, upon extending, presses the button of the thermostat, which increases the temperature at high intervals]

Gumball: [Sweating] Meh, seems like it to me. I'm hungry. [Goes to the table to get a cookie]

Tobias​​​​​: [Slapping the cookie away from his hand] Okay, I'd like to point out that, as my parents paid for half of the fundraiser, ninety percent of that cookie belongs to me.

Anais: That's not fair! Who knows how long we're stuck in here for? We need to apportion our resources equally.

Idaho: "Apportion resources equally"? Sounds to me like highfalutin' city garble to keep all the food for yourselves! You should do what we simple countryfolk call "good old-fashioned equitable distribution of commodities."

Anais: What?

Clare: [Sighs loudly] Yah, Anais, you think you're so woke, but if you truly cared about the cause, you'd be giving that food to the endangered trees of the Amazon.

Anais: [Even more puzzled] Wha— what?

Banana Joe: Wake up, sheeple! It's the other people we should worry about, coming through that door and stealing our food!

Darwin: Guys! Shouldn't we focus on the rising temperature? It's kind of boiling in here... [Felix collapses as he "sheds" his shell, due to being boiled] ...literally.

Bobert: I concur. If the temperature continues at this rate, in three hours, this room will be lit.

Gumball: Sounds pretty good!

Bobert: I mean, literally on fire; it is a scientific fact.

Banana Joe: Bobert, facts are like stars—

Anais: They're always in the sky, but you can't always see them.

Banana Joe: No, they're like shiny holes in the dark night of my ignorance, and I don't like them!

Anais: [Sighs] Okay, guys, what are we going to do about the food?

Gumball: Mmm... fight?

[The students, split into two sides of parallel line formation, comment in agreement and clash together, wildly assailing each other. Leslie yells and launches his own pot, which ends up causing him to fly off as well. Tobias and Gumball, fighting, are suddenly frightened by the projectile launch. Banana Joe and Hot Dog Guy come on-screen, fighting each other. After they battle on the floor, they end up with Hot Dog Guy wearing Banana Joe's peel and arms, and Banana Joe wearing Hot Dog Guy's buns and arms. Banana Joe manipulates the disconnected peel to close, trapping and crushing Hot Dog Guy inside, and laughs in triumph, only to be beat up by Hot Dog Guy's arms. Clare and Sarah enter, with Clare biting and crushing Sarah's head to the extent where the some of the ice cream launches out of her end, resulting in a fart noise. Clare then gets off and slips on the spilled ice cream. Anais reacts in horror. Alan enters, pulling Colin by the foot.]

Colin: Let me go!

[Bobert randomly shoots with his laser, causing Anais to duck. Idaho cries in battle and ends up being grabbed by Gumball to be thrown. Anais finally cries out, stopping everyone except Idaho, who keeps spinning in midair]

Clare: That sounds as fishy as your best friend's boyfriend liking your Chatsnap photos at three in the morning!

All others: Yeah!

Banana Joe: And enough with the blah-blah and the politricks. It's forcing me to think, and thinking makes me angry!

[The others angrily comment on the subject, in a mob-like manner]

Anais: Guys, please calm down!

Darwin: Can we at least talk about the temperature? It's so hot in here, the saliva in my mouth is starting to bubble! We need to— [Imagines that he is in a tropical island and runs around, laughing; then falls to the floor]

[The arguing students notice and stop for a moment, then return their verbal debate]

Colin: I demand change! Change! Change!

All others: [Following his words] Change! Change! Change! ...

Anais: But I'm offering you change!

Idaho: Yeah, but it's the same change as before!

Anais: But nobody else is more competent than me to take us through these hard times!

Banana Joe: Enough with the competent people doing nothing! We want incompetent people doing something!

Idaho: The people are craving hope!

Gumball: [Stomping on Idaho] Did somebody call for a "raving dope"?

Anais: What? No, they said—

Gumball: The people have spoken! If they want a slack-jawed bozo to take charge, then I shall be their champion. [Goes to the podium]

Tobias​​​​: But I — [Is pushed off by Gumball]

Gumball: You want change?!

Others: Yeah!

Gumball: Tired of fancy words?!

Others: Yeah!

Gumball: How about this for a slogan? [Makes an incomprehensible assortment of various sounds while making various expressions]

Others: [Short pause] Yeah! [Applause]

Banana Joe: He's just saying what we're all thinking!

Darwin: But what will you do about the temperature?!

Gumball: There's no problem with the temperature.

Darwin: Just look at yourself!

Gumball: [Revealed to presumably be wearing only his underwear] It's not hotter. It's just less cold.

Darwin: Dude! Your head is literally on fire!

Gumball: [Revealed to have his head on fire] No, it's not.

[In response to the fire, the roof sprinklers shoot water below, extinguishing the flame]

Gumball: See?

[Darwin gasps when a puddle forms in front of him and tries to gather up to drink water as much as he can. However, it instantly evaporates, and Darwin wells up tears, which also evaporate]

Anais: Okay, listen, you can vote for me, and I promise I'll do my best to get us out of this situation. Or you can vote for some loon in his underpants who doesn't even know the meaning of the adversity we're all facing!

Gumball: Pbht, I know exactly what "vardersity" means.

[Anais raises her eyebrow in skepticism]

Gumball: [Reading a dictionary] Oh, what do you know? Turns out it's not some kind of dance.

[The students seem to fully interpret Anais' message; however, Gumball ends up being the most voted, as he is shown taking the oath of leader]

Gumball: [With his hand on the book] I, Gumball T. Watterson, do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of leader of this group...

Anais: In their desire for change, the people forgot that they could get short-changed.

Darwin: But he's only one guy. I mean, how much harm can he—?

Catastrophe and Remedy

[The scene then returns to the scene from the beginning of the episode, with the students fighting each other exactly as seen before]

Anais: Wait, stop!

[Everything freezes as Gumball comes onscreen to speak to the viewer again]

Gumball: And that brings us back to now. I know they'll blame me, but it was once said that the higher we soar, the smaller we appear to salty little people who can't fly, [Gradually becoming furious] 'cause they're losers, and therefore, blaming me for every little thing, even though they kind of elected you in the first place!—

Anais: [Interrupting] Gumball... [Everything resumes as the students continue to fight each other] What are you doing?

Gumball: I'm dictating my memoir. What do you think of the title? "An Eagle Amongst Pigeons."

Anais: This is not the time!

Gumball: Fine! [Dictating in a poetic manner] He said confidently, before green lights reflected in his fierce and furious eyes—

Anais: Gumball, you're responsible for the whole school falling apart! Now it's time to get your people back together!

Gumball: [Sighs] All right, fine. [Runs and climbs up a pile of thrown items to build height] Everybody, stop!

[As his voice sounds out through the whole area, the students stop in response; Idaho unfortunately has been thrown and now spins]

Idaho: Oh, come on.

Gumball: In these troubled times, a true leader must take it upon himself to unify his people. Maybe what you need is a common enemy, someone to take the blame for the greater good. [Nods back to Anais, in response to her nodding to him] And it is my duty to inform you that enemy... [Inhales] is Anais.

Anais: What?!

Gumball: What? You just nodded. I thought that meant you were cool with it.

[Anais groans]

Gumball: [Sighs] Anyone else want to take the blame?

[The students are then shown running through the hallways]

Anais: Quick! It's so hot, the whole school's crumbling!

Gumball: [Following after the crowd, trapped in a pillory and covered with bruises and food] Guys, wait for me!

[The students walk up to a unavoidably large hole on the floor and gasp]

Darwin: What are we gonna do?!

Anais: If we use everyone's skills, we could pull through this together! [Tobias is shown throwing money at the hole] Tobias? What are you doing?

Tobias​​​​: Throwing money at the problem.

Anais: Okay, money isn't the solution to every problem.

[The hole is entirely filled with money, fixing the problem]

Tobias​​​​: It is if you've got enough.

[The students run over the "bridge" of dollars. They then run through an overwhelming cloud of smoke and cough in reaction]

Clare: Wait! I've got this. Anais, say something clever.

Anais: Okay. We can eliminate the toxic particles in the smoke by creating a filtration system using our wet clothes—

[Clare groans exaggeratedly, causing an enormous wind to blow out most of the smoke]

Anais: Okay, rude.

Darwin: But effective.

[The crowd of students resume running through the corridors past the boiler, in which Darwin slows down to show his concern]

Darwin: Wait! What about the boiler?

Gumball: It's a boiler, Darwin! It boils! [Guides Darwin back to the group]

Anais: Quick! We're almost there!

[A large piece of the roof collapses upon Clare. Anais gasps]

Clare: My face!

Leslie​​​​: Don't worry, I'll fix this! [Does handwork on her face]

Anais: Of course! The natural healing properties of plants!

Leslie​​​​: [Reveals Clare's face with makeup] Uh, no, I mean she might not make it, but at least she'll go down on fleek.

[The school's verge to completely collapsing frightens the students]

Anais: Come on, quick!

[The students scream as they barely escape the overbearing dust cloud that results from the school collapsing]

Unsatisfying End

All: Yeah! [Celebrate their survival]

Banana Joe: We made it!

Anais: Yeah, but no thanks to them. [Points to the charity ball at the gymnasium]

[The charity ball is still revealed to be full of dormant parents; Banana Joe's parents are then shown playing with their mouths during their sleep]

Voice: Do the rock 'n' roll— do the rock 'n' roll— do the rock 'n' roll— do the rock 'n' roll— do the—

Gumball: That's right, Anais, it's all thanks to... me. I mean, if I hadn't seized power after lying to everyone and embezzled all the food and failed your differences until you hated each other and started a civil war in the school that almost led to your extinction, you guys wouldn't be here being all chummy.

Tobias​​​​: Oh, why, you little— [Throws Idaho]

Anais: Stop!

[Idaho once again spins continously]

Gumball: Yes, enough of this violence!

Anais: No, it's just that he was gonna miss. [Readjusts Idaho to launch into Gumball's face, which he does] The important thing is we all worked together. It means there's still hope for the future. We can leave this school a better place than we—

[The school explodes, due to the lack of maintenance of the boiler, resulting in piles upon piles of flame-ridden debris. Gumball, Anais, and Darwin reemerge]

Darwin: [To Gumball] Told you we should have done something about that overheating problem.